


Missing Pieces

by Lainpinky131



Series: The Key is Not Knowing [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Has Issues, Canon Who Is She I Do Not Know Her, Episode: s02e02 The Pact, Gen, Harley Quinn Deserves Better, Inspired by Batman: The Animated Series, Inspired by Suicide Squad, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Language, Not Canon Compliant, Past Abusive Relationship(s), Past Domestic Violence, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Possible Trigger Warning - Past Abusive Relationship(s), Possible Trigger Warning - Past Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 10:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13456302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lainpinky131/pseuds/Lainpinky131
Summary: John Doe was someone Bruce Wayne couldn’t stay away from, even if he tried. But with so many questions, maybe Harley Quinn was the only one with answers.





	Missing Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a little something I had rolling around in my head since watching playthroughs of TT Batman. Harley is ridiculously fun to write, so I had a lot of fun doing this.
> 
> I drew a picture inspired by my fic, which you can find [here](https://www.deviantart.com/lainpinky131/art/Out-A-Goddamn-Window-757294915) which will give you the idea of how I imagined these characters. (POC bruce and harley)
> 
> And check out Walrus_Otaku's [batjokes fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12999141). Mine is totally designed to be compatible with theirs, plus I edited theirs so go support a fellow artist. :)
> 
> Forewarning, I took A LOT of artistic liberties with the characterizations and backstories of Harls and Bruno, and Harley's is definitely inspired by both Batman: The Animated Series and especially Suicide Squad. I am somewhat of a guilty fan of the movie so if you really despise the movie and can't stand anything it touches, you might want to skip this one.
> 
> With that said,  
> Enjoy~ <3

Alone with her, surrounded by broken glass and dolled up mannequins, Bruce Wayne watched as a layer of Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s mask peeled away right before his eyes.

He thought he knew enough from what he read in the Agency’s files, and from what Amanda Waller had told him, to prepare for how best to deal with the recently rebranded Harley Quinn.

But he hadn’t been expecting _this_.

She had called him up to what was most likely her office, and she seemed almost civil now that she was away from the demented criminals she'd surrounded herself with.

Bruce listened to her apology and answered her questions, and in turn she gave him a bit of advice—if you could even call it that—on how to gain favor with Bane and Freeze. But there was one more question he had for her that itched at the back of his mind.

“That all you needed, or do ‘ya got something else for me?” Harley said as she finished circling the room and leaned against the edge of her desk opposite of Bruce, “Cuz’ as much as I love looking at that face of yours, I got some stuffs to do,” she said, and smiled absentmindedly at the red cropped gloves on her hands.

 _How were those not uncomfortable?_ Bruce thought briefly.

“One more,” he said, gesturing with his hand. “What’s your deal with John? It’s pretty obvious you don’t like having him around.”

Her smile widened, but it didn’t manage to reach her eyes. He had only a moment to regret his question.

“What a thing to say. I love having my Puddin’ around. It’s just that mama likes to have some fun, and she doesn’t like pests,” her voice was light at first but soured the longer she spoke.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at her warily.

“And what do you plan to do with him once he stops being useful?”

Harley hummed to herself.

“Oh, y’know. I'll hold ‘im real tight, all nice and warm in my arms,” she said as she wrapped her arms around herself, “Before I throw him out a goddamn window!”

Bruce just barely jumped out of the way before Harley leapt to grab her baseball bat and smashed it into the nearest cabinet with a cry. Glass flew in all directions as she heaved with heavy breaths.

Bruce stared wide-eyed, his arms held up ready in defense. She giggled at him as she straightened, tossing her mismatched colored hair out of her face—the light tuft of pigtails bouncing with the movement. She rested her bat against her shoulder, grinning wide and sharp. 

“Why do you care anyway? Don’t like people playing with your toys? I know I sure don’t,” she teased with a playful flare.

Bruce took another step away from her and lowered his arms. He could feel his frustration rising.

“John and I went through a lot together back in Arkham. I care about him,” he said, and she placed a hand on her hip.

“Oh, really? That wasn’t what you said in the car,” she snickered. “But that’s real sweet of you, moneybags. I’m sure John would be so happy to know he’s got such a knight in shining armor wrapped around his finger.”

The corner of Bruce’s mouth twitched down in a scowl.

He remembered the day before when he first met her outside the Stacked Deck. She had sent John away to question Bruce alone, to find out what his motives were and exactly what he wanted with her ex-patient. He told her the first lie that came to mind.

_He’s pretty useful, what can I say?_

It couldn’t have been further from the truth and that would have been fine, if only Harley hadn’t decided to blab it to John. Bruce saw the hurt on John’s face, but there had been no time for him to explain himself while Harley was there.

“Y’know, Brucie boy," she said, snapping his attention back to her. "ya’ gotta learn to share if you’re going to play with the other kids."

“I mean it, Harley. I don’t want to see him get hurt,” he said.

“Then close your eyes.”

Bruce’s scowl deepened.

“You’re dodging the question,” he said.

“Am I? Then let me answer that for you _real_ fast,” Harley stepped forward until her face was only a few inches away from his, “My deal with Jon ain’t none of your business,” she said.

She smiled at him, her eyes half-lidded; he held her gaze, countering her. It was an invisible battle of wills.

After a moment, her smile dropped and she leaned back to return the baseball bat to its spot on the vanity.

“You’re wasting your time anyway. You might think he's your buddy or BFF or whatever, but you haven’t known him long enough to see him like he really is,” she said.

Bruce scoffed, “What, and you know him better?”

“Yeah. I do,” she said, her back to him. “You have no idea, Wayne. That stuff you saw in Arkham ain’t even the _half_ of it.”

A chill ran down Bruce’s spine as the memories of his week in Arkham Asylum filled his mind.

Bruce had seen firsthand what John was capable of and was left with a scar on his face to prove it. The knife wound John had delivered to Victor Zsasz was so similar to the one Zsasz had given him, that in the end John may as well have scarred Bruce himself.

But there was more to this, more to John.

John had, for lack of a better word, calmed since his volatile self in the asylum. He was far from fine, let alone good, but he seemed softer now, more conscious of other people’s feelings and his own anti-social behavior. So, unless John was hiding a side of himself from Bruce—which was unlikely, Harley knew more about John than he’d thought. If not Arkham, then...

It was then that the realization hit him.

“You know who he was before Arkham.”

It was a statement, not a question.

“Bingo!” She chirped as she twirled around to face him. “Ooh, that was fast. Got such a detective here,” she teased. “Yeah, I knew him before. I knew him _real_ well.”

Harley circled around him, her eyes sharp as if waiting for a moment to strike. He followed her with his gaze, watching her every move over his shoulder.

“I knew him before Arkham, before ‘John Doe’,” she gestured with finger quotes around his name, “Poor Jon don’t remember who he was. Poor Jon. Poor J-O-N,” she sang, her voice a melancholy that he knew better than to believe.

"Who was he?" Bruce asked.

"Nu-uh, not telling. You're just going to hafta trust me on this," she said.

“How do you know he’s not lying about the memory loss? He could be faking it,” Bruce added, though he doubted that was the case.

Harley shrugged.

“Maybe, but probably not,” she said.

Bruce cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Hey, I’m a trained psychiatrist. If he was lying, I’d know it.”

Bruce smirked dryly at that, but it dropped in an instant.

“Then you should know that you can’t hold him responsible for being someone he can’t even remember,” he said, “Whoever he was before.”

She shook her head and fixed her eyes into a glare. Her voice was low when she spoke.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew who he was, what he did to people. _Good_ people that I know you’d be stupid enough to care about,” she said.

She stopped walking to stare out the window.

While Harley seemed, upon closer analysis, to be less barbaric than her companions, he knew exactly what she'd be willing to do to get what she wanted, and how much she’d enjoy it. She was a killer for fun and he would never forget that.

No, _this_ was personal.

He steeled himself.

“What did he do to you?”

Harley crossed her arms, her gaze distant as if she could see something beyond the brick walls of the abandoned subway station. She was silent for only a moment.

“You ever been in love?”

Bruce was taken aback.

That was the last question he ever thought she’d ask; he regarded her carefully, hesitant to respond. He half expected her to follow whatever he said with some kind of degrading remark, but there was something in her voice he couldn't recognize that compelled Bruce to tell the truth.

“No, I don’t think so,” he answered.

“Them tabloids say otherwise,” she said, “But I figured as much.”

She dropped her arm and pressed a fist into the window.

“What’s it like?” Bruce asked after a pause.

Harley huffed out a bitter laugh, and it seemed to only take her a second to decide whether she would answer him.

“All you’re there for is to be a mind for him to pry apart and spit in.” Her words were sour, hate filled. “You take so many shocks to the head, your brain gets scrambled to the point you can't tell up from down. You try to put yourself back together after he's gone, but there's so many holes you don't know even what to do anymore.”

She dug her fingers into the frame of the window, her teeth clenched.

“Then all of a sudden, the guy that did everything to you comes back and he doesn’t even have the decency to remember the _shit_ he put you through.

“You can't understand what it’s like being in love, Wayne,” she finished.

In the reflection of the glass he saw that she tried to grin, but it slipped lamely from her face.

Bruce stared back, wide-eyed and silent.

He hadn’t expected, well, _any_ of this.

Bruce knew about her father, about her life before ‘Harley Quinn’, but he could never have suspected this, of her or the person he considered his best friend.

Her demeanor had deflated, her smiles gone, and all that remained was someone he knew he could never trust but was in pain and needed help. Under the bravado, the makeup, the sledgehammer and guns, she was a person.

She was _still_ who Batman would save.

Whether it was his desire to help those in need, or because he could understand what it’s like to feel so alone, he was undeniably drawn to these lost souls. He tried to tell himself to remain indifferent, that he didn’t know if what she said was even true, but despite it all, he couldn’t help the wave of empathy that washed over him.

Agent Avesta could never have known how right she was.

Ignoring all reason, he stepped closer and placed a hand on Harley’s shoulder. The physical contact was minimal, and he said nothing, but the gesture was enough.

Her attention jolted to his hand, surprise clear on her face, before she looked up and met his eyes with a soft and appreciative smile. Bruce found he couldn’t help but smile back.

It wasn’t the million-dollar smile he would sell to the paparazzi, or the forced ones he’d given her when they met. No, this smile was genuine, and one that few people had ever seen.

Harley broke the silence first.

“Maybe you do know what it’s like missing some pieces,” she said. “And I’m not just talking about your ear.” His smile dropped into an unamused deadpan. She shrugged off his hand and returned to her desk, “Best be gettin' back to work. Got lots to do,”

“I’ll leave you to it.”

Bruce turned to leave but he stopped when Harley called out to him.

She opened her mouth to say something but seemed to have changed her mind and shook her head.

“Just… be careful, ‘kay?”

For the second time today, he gave her a genuine smile.

“I’m always careful,” he said, and she snickered at that.

“Yeah, yeah. Get outta here,” she said, and waved him out the door.

Bruce wouldn’t forget Harley’s warning, but he knew from experience that certain people were hard to stay away from and others were even harder to trust. Maybe she knew that too.

Whatever the case, there was no point in dwelling on this any longer. There would be time later, and right now there was someone he needed to see.

**Author's Note:**

> Since watching playthroughs of BTEW, I've had this theory that the reason Harley is less bubbly and more hardened than how she usually is in the comics and stuff, is because she's already been through the abuse from the Joker and had the realization of her self-worth.
> 
> John though doesn't remember any of this (i bet he lost his memories from falling into chemicals that also messed with his skin and hair coloration) and is undoubtedly in love with harley. because harley is queen. So now that the roles are reversed, with her obviously DESPISING him for all the terrible stuff he put her through, she's gonna get some payback.
> 
> ofc, this theory has practically been confirmed wrong after the events of ep 4, but i kept writing cuz it seemed like a fun AU. 
> 
> Harley is crazy cool in BTEW and I love that she's so tough and powerful. She's in charge, she's got a wicked outfit and weapon, and she's just. so. awesome. This also wasn't meant to be anti-john either. He's my baby boy and i love him to bits, so it's more of "Everyone Deserves Better".
> 
> My bruno is also a sweetie compassionate bean, lactose-intolerant, trans, bi, ace, jewish, ethnically hard to pin down, but he also made some decisions that I would never actually do in game, like put the tracker on john, or tell harley that he's using him.
> 
> (btdubs, i'm splashing around the ideas for a few different fics, namely a massive fix it rewrite of ep 4, a texting the bae fic feat. bru and john, and a somewhat unrelated companion of this where bru apologizes to jay for what he said in the car.)


End file.
